Shop + website: http://www.deidredreams.com/
Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/DeidreDreams
Storenvy shop: http://deidredreams.storenvy.com/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/DeidreDreams
Pinterest page: http://www.pinterest.com/deidredreams/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DeidreDreams
Deviantart: http://deidredreams.deviantart.com/
My shop is called Deidre Dreams and I make polymer clay art jewelry. I often combine my polymer clay art pieces with yarn accessories and jewelry like hand crocheted hats, chokers and wrist cuffs and jewelry made of handspun art yarn.
My polymer clay pieces are very intricate and detailed, almost always with clay flower embroidery.
Where does your inspiration come from?
My inspiration for my pieces mostly comes from stories, either existing stories that I love, or often stories in my own head that take form in a little scene in my pieces.
My process mostly starts with a little story in my head and a very vague image, then I choose the colours I want to work with from my clay collection and let my hands go. As I work, the story becomes more and more set with every detail that pops into my head and is added to the piece.
Sometimes, though, when I work on my flower pieces and crochet pieces, I let the colours guide me and just let my hands go and add colours and details here and there until it feels finished to me.
Have you always been the creative type?
As to whether I was always a creative person, I would say yes, but in a different way. I used to always be very much a story person. I loved reading and writing, watching series and movies and losing myself in the stories. It was only when I discovered polymer clay a few years ago that working with my hands and visuals became bonded to my love of stories and I found how satisfying it is to make a lot of little stories with visual pieces.
It allows me to constantly hop from story to story in my mind.
How/when did you decide to sell your pieces?
The decision to some day sell my pieces came very quickly after discovering clay. I had never felt so happy as when I was working with my clay. And within a few days of discovering it, I knew nothing would make me happier than to do this for a living.
The actual selling, however took quite a bit longer, because of course, I first had to work on expanding my skills.
How do you translate nature as a creative force?
Nature is very important for as a creative force in the sense that I need it for re-charging my energy. I love being outside and feeling the wind, walking and smelling the change of seasons or the sun on the grass. There is nothing that re-charges me like being outside and letting the current season sink in. I live in an area where nature isn't so wild. It's more lovely and small, with rolling hills and feels and small woods. Taking a stroll through the landscape here is often enough for a small pick-me-up.
I have however left a big piece of my heart in Great Britain, specifically the Scottish Highlands and the Isle of Skye and the Irish West Coast (I haven't seen the English and Welsh coast yet, but I really want to someday). The landscape there is much more wild and grand and there's an energy in the air there that I've never felt anywhere else and we try to go there as often as we can.
I never try to exactly depict scenes of nature. They are distilled into dreamy images in my head and that is what I work from.
Which of the four elements best describes you? (earth/air/fire/water)
Of the four elements, I'm most attracted to water, although I would describe myself mostly as fire. I'm very passionate about things that are important to me. I can be a very passionate fangirl (when it comes to the stories I love). I'm also quite passionate in my views of the world and politics, although I don't mix those with my visual work.
I don't believe in bottling things up, I talk very easily and openly and I can get flame up quite easily. Although, slowly, while growing older, I notice my need for grounding myself more and more, and especially for taking the time to let things sink in and think them over before reacting. Which I'm very grateful for, because I'm quite impulsive by nature, which has gotten me in quite some pickles in the past.
If you could go back to the darkest time in your life, what would you tell yourself?
If I could go back to the darkest time in my life, I would tell my younger self: don't feel guilty for your anger and don't be afraid of not being lady-like enough. Being ladylike won't get you anywhere, you will need that fire to survive. You will make mistakes, but you will learn from them and you will come out stronger and things will get better, and not just better, but really good.
